Australia: America's mercenary state

John Pilger imagines a great global military conspiracy with Australia at its centre but provides not a single link in support of his fantasies:

Anzac Day has become the preserve of those who manipulate the cult of state violence – militarism – in order to satisfy a psychopathic deference to foreign power and to pursue its aims. And the “legend” has no room for the only war fought on Australian soil: that of the Aboriginal people against the European invaders. In a land of cenotaphs, not one stands for them.

And:

[The war-lovers abuse] of our memory of the fallen, and why they fell, is common among all servitors of rapacious power, though Australia might be a special case. No country is more secure in its strategic remoteness, yet no western elite is more eager to talk war and seek imperial “protection” from those of threatening pigmentation who might fall down on us as if by the force of gravity.

Australia’s military budget is A$32 billion a year, one of the highest in the world. Australian Cruise missiles will soon be aimed at Asia for the first time. Less than two months’ worth of this war bingeing would pay for the reconstruction of Queensland in the wake of catastrophic floods and cyclone, but not a cent is forthcoming. In July, the same fragile flood plains will be invaded by a joint US-Australian military force, firing laser–guided missiles, dropping bombs and blasting the environment and marine life. This is rarely reported. Rupert Murdoch controls 70 per cent of the capital city press and his "ethic" is widespread.

Pilger's delusions are manifold.